Friday, May 29, 2009

The "Fingers" show last night was delightful! Magical, dreamy, sweet. We look forward to hosting many more low-key, pretty events in that space this season and beyond.

AND, the night before, I got to see Will Oldham play at the Grey Eagle. It was Duncan's birthday present. And I gave him a cake (via the Harvest Lovelies). And then, he thanked me. On stage. And then, we met him. And Jaye Bartell got to give him a copy of his CD. (Jaye Bartell, AKA Pilgrim, who is going to open for Smog on June 10 [???] dang.) I felt really grateful for the chance to meet him, really happy about what a gracious person he is, and, most of all, grateful for the music that he has made that has been a part of my life for 12 years or so now.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

On Thursday, May 28, at 227 Haywood Road (next to the Cake Shop)at 7pm, Short Street Cakes and Red Mouse Parent Productions Proudly Present:Fingers: An Evening of Exquisite Gay PerformanceA small and intimate performance of Queer Magic, Sleight of Hand, Psychedelic Opera, Vampires, Theater, Vaudeville, and music from Learned Helplessness (the self-described "twangy and morose" musical accompaniment). Here you can find more info.$5 suggested donation at the door. 18 and over only.Seating is limited.I think it will be beautiful... xojodi

Friday, May 22, 2009

Lets start at the beginning. On June 6th, from 8am to 7pm, Short Street Cakes Presents the newest incarnation of Howard Street Handmade: The Crafty Supply Sale and Swap Bonanza! Here's the rundown from one of our organizers (and resident HSH logo artists, ass-kicker, and all around awesome mama, Katie Elkins of Scrumdidlyump fame!One June 6th Howard Street Handmade will host a fabulous day of low-costworkshops and a Crafty Supply Swap + Sale Bonanza. Howard Street Handmadetakes place at 227 Haywood Road in East West Asheville, next to our lovelysponsor, Short Street Cakes.

The day will progress in three acts, (eat your heart out Ira Glass):

*Part I - *8 am -10:30 am

- *A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words - But you Need a Few of Those Too*

Low-Cost Photography and Writing WorkshopBring your work and we will do a hands on photo shoot! Learn how to take greatphotos of your work with minimal equipment. We will play with props, lighting and help each other write great descriptions of our work, and gain skills to sell more of your work! Great for Etsy or for building a portfolio to approach galleries and shops!cost - *$5 *brought to you by scrumdidlyump*All proceeds from this class will go to the Howard Street Handmade marketing fund!*

Now, the second event, is the monthly tradition we have all come to know and love: The Howard Street Handmade Craft Market! This month's HSH will take place on June 20th, and will feature the usual awesomeness from returning and new vendors, as well as Music! Outdoor Vendors! A Cake Walk! and maybe BEER!

Monday, May 11, 2009

Come check out the Button Flower Shower, all this month at the Cake Shop! The Button Florist, Celia Barbieri, has created hundreds of stems of button flowers from hand-dyed antique buttons and hand-made ceramic pieces. They're beautiful. And scroll down for our latest cake special- Marco's Marble Cake! (Marco special requested it for his birthday, and now we can make it for you!)

Friday, May 8, 2009

This is Katie from Lady Luck Flower Farm:And these are the just-picked-today local, edible, organic, super-fragrant fresh Carolina Roses she brought us to adorn your cakes and cupcakes with!And thus officially launches fresh flower season. Fresh flowers will always be on hand in the cake shop, as an option to make your sweet gift of cake rise to over-the-rainbow heights of love. Fresh flowers are priced as an "add-on" on the menu. But on Sunday, we will put these lovely roses and rose petals (as well as the beautiful pansies Katie grew) on all your Mother's Day cake and cupcake purchases for FREE! We would like to thank your mother, (or babymama) for the gift of life, and YOU SHOULD TOO! This is the cake that we made yesterday, which was too gooey and delicious not to eat ourselves and take home to friends and family. It was lemon pound cake, iced and filled with lemon curd and fresh local strawberries:

Friday, May 1, 2009

I'd like to tell you a little bit about my mother. Sally Rhoden, nee Sally Brown, was born and raised in Monroe, GA. Her mother (my Mimi) was a schoolteacher and a homemaker, and her father, (Granddaddy) was a farmer and a county agriculture and soil agent. Mom got out of Monroe ASAP.She went to school at Florida State, receiving degrees in Recreational Therapy and Mental Retardation (probably not a major anymore, I'm guessing...) and went on to create summer camps and group homes for folks with disabilities. She met my dad, James Lloyd Rhoden, Jr., in Tallahassee, where he was born and raised. (I think I would need to start a whole new blog to begin describing my dad, so I'll save that for another day). They got married, moved to Atlanta, and proceeded to make babies. Fast. Ms. Sally had three children in three years, because, she says, she just wanted to get all that baby-making out of the way early. So growing up, it was less like having 2 older brothers and more like being the runt of a small but aggressive litter. But Sally dealt with the chaos gracefully- I have mostly idyllic memories of my childhood, full of lots of outdoor time, lots of special celebrations, and LOTS of cooking and baking.Sally is the woman responsible for my love of cooking. While my mom doesn't think of herself as a "domestic goddess," she managed our household, her career as a non-profit administrator, and her social life in such a way that she met the mostly unspoken and highly stringent standards of Southern Ladyhood (in word, my mom laughs off the outdated expectations of women of her generation, but in deed, she lives up to them). I was expected to share the load- so cooking, cleaning and baking were a part of my life from early on. Like her mother and grandmother before her, Sally always presented elaborate meals and plentiful desserts, especially for holidays and birthdays. (unlike her mother and grandmother before her, though, Sally's elaborate meals involved a microwave, a dishwasher, and the occasional boxed cake mix, but who can blame her? She had a lot going on). Ultimately, my mom is the reason that I know that food is one of the deepest ways of showing your love to your family, and it is why I have created a livelihood out of the desire to make celebrations more meaningful by creating beautiful, simple cakes. Now Sally is a Mimi (she has four grandsons and twin grandbabies- a boy and a girl- on the way). She and Jasper are thick as thieves. She is sad that we live so far from Atlanta (since the entirety of the rest of my family all live in the same zip code, Asheville is a long way away), and she is often wishing that she could "help" me more... the cooking, cleaning, and child care stuff that Mimis do. (she does alot of that already, but wants to help more.)Last weekend we were in Atlanta for a visit, and I discovered that my mom had decided that there WAS something that she could do to help me with my growing business and family. She spent weeks cooking meals, and carefully packed them up into tupperwares. When I left Atlanta on Tuesday, I went home with a HUGE cooler full of frozen food- casseroles, chili, soups, green beans, mashed potatoes, ribs, brownies, and much more. She filled our freezer full of weeks' worth of meals, so that, even though our lives are busy and chaotic right now, we could eat well and be nourished by home cookin'. That was a pretty hard-core awesome-mom thing to do. Sally rocks. Don't get me wrong- me and Sally have our moments. I do get frustrated with her from time to time. But who said that just because she's my mom, she's supposed to be perfect? I know Jasper will probably have a thing or two to say about me eventually, and I hope that he remembers that I'm a real person, too. The real reason I get frustrated at my mom is that I, like all daughters and sons, often think of my mother only in relation to myself, forgetting that she is her own whole person in the world. I realized this as I was trying to tell some of her biography earlier in this post- the details of who she was before becoming my mom, and other than being my mom, are sort of fuzzy. Almost as if all the other things that Sally Rhoden is and does are just the soft-focus background to the real Sally- MY MOM! We all do this- we all, deep down, just want our mommies. And even though I'm a grown-up and a mother myself now, from time to time, I want my mommy too! And, lucky for me, she's right there for me when I need her.

Here's to you, Mom. Happy Mother's Day, and thanks for all the food, the love, and the excellent home training. It's coming in real handy... Love,Jodi